May 7, 2015
Oh yes it
does seem like that time of year of gale force winds and hail storms are around
the corner.
Without
the use of row covers this time of year can be quite difficult for gardeners.
Let us hope that this year we do not get late season freezes like we have
gotten in the last couple of years.
For the
adventurous gardeners who have their gardens planted it is of the highest
importance to keep an eye on weather forecasts. This can give you a clue as to
what the weather may do that day.
It is
important that with row covers / fabric that you keep it off of the plants.
There are two reasons. Freezing temperatures will translocate right through the
fabric and burn any plant that is touching the fabric and on windy day’s
seedlings can be abraded to the ground while mature plants can be bruised.
Granted with a daylong wind storm there will be some plant contact but nothing
like if the fabric was left to “float” over the plants.
My
experience with hail storms is that duration and intensity is the key. Forty
five minutes of pea sized hail that turns the ground white can do more damage
than 5 minutes of golf ball hail. These storms are all the “luck of the draw”
I use two
thicknesses of fabric. The light one is almost like sheer cloth (ag 19) and the
other is like denim (ag 70). Of course
the 70 gives the best protection but to cover all the beds would be way too
expensive. I reserve this for my more valuable crops. I have found that the use
of 2 layers of 19 is really good hail protection. Last year during a golf ball
sized storm: uncovered beds were sent through a meat grinder, single layer of
19, the hail was slowed but went through but with the 2 layers most just
bounced off.
There are
only a few crops that I do not leave covered for the full season; these are in
the cucurbit family (squash, melons, cucumbers…). These crops need to be
pollinated. The rest of the veggies that have flowers are (for the most part)
self-fertile and can be kept covered. This is an immense help going into hail
season.
Sooo if
you will be gone all day, especially mid to late afternoon, it would do no harm
to your cucurbits to leave them covered all day. This would be much preferred
than coming home to confetti.
If by
chance you are unfortunate and get clobbered by a hail storm, it is absolutely
imperative to clean up all of the shredded foliage. For the cucurbits, all of
the shredded foliage is a calling card to cucumber beetles and the party will
be on. Once when I worked away from home and was side slapped with hail
mid-week, I was overrun with cucumber beetles by the weekend. Time is of the
essence.
Questions? I can be contacted at markdirtfarmer@gmail.com. Or more
garden notes at redwagonfarm.blogspot.com
May 14,2015
It has been a goal to try
and not duplicate what I write for the Avalanche and what I send out in my
weekly email for veggie sales, but this has a real soft spot in my heart.
We are talking about the
Alpine Community Garden out behind the West Texas Food Bank. This has been a
labor of love that is finally coming to full fruition. A lot of folks have
provided a lot of love: ripping the soil, to remedy compaction, a deer fence
has been erected, watering system installed, and a garden shed to store
gardening tools. All these bennies are included in the plot rental fee.
Finally a Sul Ross
Construction class has erected several shade structure frameworks (how fitting
for a garden, they look mushrooms).
Well these “mushrooms” need
some caps, some weed abatement would also be nice (this area was fallow for
many years and sports a very vigorous crop of weeds), and lastly, pic nic
tables under the soon to be newly “capped” mushrooms so that all can gaze at all
the wonderful work that so many folks have accomplished. The Community garden
is a very nice asset to the Alpine Community.
I have heart felt emmotions
for gardens and feel everyone should try and grow some of their own food.
Veggie gardening is a skill that everyone should try to acquire at least to
some degree. Another one of the nice things about the community garden is it
brings gardeners of different skill levels together and this can really help
everyone’s gardening experience to grow. Sooo if you would like to donate to
the above mentioned pic nic area, please read the note below from Isabel
Whitehead.
I have the information
for the online fundraiser we are conducting to help Alpine Community
garden.
We are raising money
to complete a shade structure for the gardeners, get our hands on natural weed
suppressants like heavy gravel, add a picnic table, etc. All of the extra info
is on the donation webpage.
If you haven’t been out to see the
Community garden, I highly recommend it. If you would like to try your green
thumb at gardening, contact Martha Latta at mlatta@feedingamerica.org or at
432-837-1580 for garden plot details.
It really is a great bargain: secure deer fence, garden tools including seeds,
water and readily available garden advice, all to make your gardening
experience a success!!!
Ah yess here is to growing!!!
Questions?
I can be contacted at markdirtfarmer@gmail.com.
Or more garden notes at redwagonfarm.blogsot.com
May21, 2014
Like with any tool there is a learning curve, this is true
with agriculture spun bound fabric too.
I first discovered fabric while reading a gardening book by
Eliot Coleman, a year round gardener on the Maine Coast. He was my inspiration
to try veggie gardening year round and
to also give agribon fabric a whirl.
Initially I would only use it in the winter because “I
thought it would keep my plants too hot in the summer”. I could not have been
more wrong.
Not only does this tool keep plants warm in the winter, it
also cools plants in the summer.
This past winter I learned a real “now I understand” experience.
I had 3 layers of agribon 70 (theoretically good to 8
degrees) on my Irish potatoes. The
fabric retains heat but does not generate it. This past winter with all the
snow and ice there was no heat reserves in the soil. This was true even though
I had covers on these plants all winter, there was enough warmth to sprout the
spuds but not enough warmth in the soil to carry the plants through ice and
snow events. Unlike other true winter veggies that do not mind it on the cool
side, the mid to lower 20’s (plants like chard, kale spinach, carrots and
onions to name a few), potatoes like it cool but not freezing. This past winter
really brought this point home to me.
Most years our winter chill downs are short lived and the
fabric is able to do its magic and protect the plants. It is because of these
short lived chill downs that I believe I was able to survive the 2011 deep
freeze with minimum damage. If instead of having a weekend warmup before the
second wave there had been 2 solid weeks of freeze, my garden may have been
totaled. I hope I never get to test this hypothesis. Much rather keep all that
deep freeze stuff up north!!
It was pure happen stance that I tried the fabric in the
summer. Most gardeners like to refer to it as frost blanket, so this does form
a mindset. It was one of my earliest revelations of gardening here in Far West
Texas; this place is like no other place in the country to garden. Having
gardened on both coasts and several places in between has revealed this to me.
I started using it to germinate seeds because when I used
mulch to cover seed beds, I soon found that critters in the mulch just loved
how I provided them with all those easy access ”vittles”. With the fabric I could maintain a “clear
zone” around the seed bed.
I now use it year round!!!
Yes! gardening requires a learning curve just like with the
use of gardening tools!!!
Questions? I can be
contacted at markdirtfarmer@gmail.com. Or more
garden notes at redwagonfarm.blogsot.com
May 28, 2015
This year may be one of those huge bug years, due to all the
moisture we have had. When passing through the garden I scare up numerous grass
hoppers, everything from tiny ones up to big ones. I am hoping my fowl will
help me with these.
I am also seeing increasing numbers of squash bugs and
cucumber beetles. The squash bugs are already laying eggs.
Since the rains have been consistent so have the weeds
greening the garden perimeter, garden paths and the beds too.
It is not a time to be complacent. There are garden duties
to take care of.
I have been slow to weed whip the exterior perimeter of the
garden because I have been enjoying the wildflowers so much. They are fading so
I will be working on a 10 foot border around the garden. This really helps the
fowl with their bug patrol. I am hoeing and weed eating the inside perimeter
down to bare earth. This also discourages the bugs. That exposure thing.
As I harvest my squash, I look for squash bugs and cucumber
beetles. I just crush them as I go (more squeamish sorts may want to wear
gloves while doing this). I am finding squash bug eggs on just about every
location of the plant. These are pictures of what to look for along with a
picture of adults and nymphs. https://palmraepotager.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/julysquashbugeggs003.jpghttp://ipm.illinois.edu/ifvn/volume11/images/squash_bugs.jpg
Adults and nymphs are easy to crush first thing in the
morning when they are sluggish. The eggs are difficult to crush so they need to
be either squished between a rock and a hard place or collected in a plastic
bag to be left in the sun. Loose eggs on the ground WILL hatch.
Cucumber beetles are a bit more trouble when it comes to
hand control. A light on the porch at night will bring them in where they can
be collected to be disposed of.
I will continue with hand control for all of these above
mentioned bugs until their populations get too big. Then it becomes time to
bring out the cold pressed neem oil. I
have mentioned this amazing pesticide on many occasions. Save for the oil
properties Cold pressed neem, it is not a contact spray, it needs to be
ingested. Once ingested the bugs stop eating and molting with death to follow.
Cold Pressed neem is not available locally (that I know of) only clarified
hydrophobic neem (all of the hormones that affect eating and molting have been
removed). Cold Pressed needs to be sprayed of an evening wearing proper
protective clothing after reading the label fully. Spraying of a morning will
kill beneficial insects and the sun may cause the neem oil to burn the plants.
Cold pressed neem is affective on over 100 insect pests. If
the label DOES NOT say cold pressed neem specifically, it is the clarified
form. I get my cold pressed from Amazon.
Good luck!!
Questions? I can be
contacted at markdirtfarmer@gmail.com. Or more
garden notes at redwagonfarm.blogsot.com
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